Posted by Tim Kavanagh, special to ESPN.com
Dustin Byfuglien is his name, and his feat Friday night caused his ownership in ESPN leagues to shoot up 24 percentage points when word got out of his dastardly deeds (three goals and an assist). I say dastardly in being sensitive to any Ilya Bryzgalov owners out there. Ilya managed just two saves on seven shots and was pulled after about half the first period. This is his first really brutal game since being acquired to be the No. 1 goalie in Phoenix, so we'll see how he can recover. Hopefully it's better than my roommate's recovery -- or lack thereof -- after missing several notes in a row while playing Guitar Hero.
Aside from Byfuglien (I can't stop saying that name), the Blackhawks' young guns were quite active in this game, with Jonathan Toews contributing a goal and two assists and Patrick "Oh Dear God, it's" Kane adding two assists to his NHL rookie scoring lead. Phoenix' own young gun Peter Mueller added the lone goal for the Coyotes late in the third period as the final score read 6-1. Our new favorite goon, Daniel Carcillo, added 23 minutes to his seasonal total and he's now at 107, which is pretty impressive considering we're just past the quarter pole.
Carcillo had his most impressive performance earlier this year against Anaheim, earning 34 penalty minutes, but on Friday night, the Ducks were busy getting run out of Edmonton, with the final score 5-1. The Oil spread the scoring around, with Shawn Horcoff turning in the best linescore: a goal and two assists on four shots. Some encouraging news out of Edmonton is that Sheldon Souray skated before the game, although he is still about two weeks away from returning to action. Dwayne Roloson continued his roller coaster year by nearly pitching a shutout, stopping 21-of-22 for the win. You want no part of Roloson given his inconsistency, especially in head-to-head, where one brutal outing can lose you a category or two.
On the other hand, those who have the privilege of owning Martin Brodeur know that he can single-handedly win you a week in head-to-head. Brodeur now has two straight Friday night shutouts; he blanked the Thrashers last week and the Canadiens on Friday. This is a big feat given the Canadiens' effective power play, which was short-circuited by Brodeur saves on several occasions. Offensively, the Devils enjoyed a spectacle of scoring by Zach Parise, who notched his first career hat trick and grabbed an assist on the final goal, as New Jersey won 4-0. Parise has become a legit No. 1 LW option in his third year, after rewarding those who took a chance on him as a sleeper last year. Those who followed the team closely last year will tell you that the Parise-Jamie Langenbrunner-Travis Zajac line was many nights the best on the team, and it appears given Langenbrunner's start and Parise's continued production that they can be leaned on for considerable fantasy output again this year.
They weren't drafted at the same level, and you won't find them very close at season's end, but Friday night, Rod Brind'Amour equaled Alexander Ovechkin. Both gents scored twice, but Brind'Amour's Hurricanes ended the game one goal ahead, 4-3. Cory Stillman also had a goal for the 'Canes, who got a 31 save performance out of Cam Ward in net. This was a game that Olaf Kolzig's owners will want to forget, as he only stopped 15-of-19 shots.
A pair of goalies headed in opposite directions squared off Friday night in Pittsburgh, as the Stars continue their trip around the Atlantic Division. Mike Smith has excelled in his backup role for Dallas, apprenticing for Marty Turco until he, one day, becomes a real boy … I mean the No. 1 goaltender. Marc-Andre Fleury has been an enigma for the Penguins his entire career, and this season's performance has been just as bumpy, to the point that Dany Sabourin has gained fantasy-worthiness. Nevertheless, as Geddy Lee sang, "changes aren't permanent, but change is," and Friday's game was a reversal of fortune for both young men, with Fleury and the Pens downing Smith's Stars, 4-1.
Sidney Crosby (you might have heard something about him) led Pittsburgh's attack with two goals, and Colby Armstrong got assists on both of them. Colby, in fact, has five points in the past three games, during all of which he's been on the line with Crosby. Hmmm, what decision should we make based on this?
Jordan Staal had one assist in this game, but it's been a devastating year for the youngster. First, there was that whole mess in Minnesota over the summer with the bachelor party, the underage drinking and the yelling in the road. Then, he was panned by most fantasy hockey gurus, who said that he wouldn't come close to the value he had in 2006-07 in his breakout campaign. And now? He's proven them right, with only five points in 24 games! Somehow he's still owned in 10 percent of ESPN leagues (Armstrong, for reference, is around three percent) & sometimes I feel like there are owners who draft a team and never check it once, perhaps that's the explanation for that discrepancy.
One team I just can't get a read on is the Colorado Avalanche. After losing Friday night 3-2 in San Jose, they now have just three wins on the road all season, worst in the Western Conference, and their goalies have been very inconsistent. Ryan Smyth, who was seemingly in the "crawl" along the bottom of ESPNEWS after every game at the beginning of the year, is now pointless in his past three games and has only one goal and two assists in his last ten. History is on Smyth's side, as he has been streaky in the past, but this has been a horrid stretch. Our exception to the rule in Denver is Peter Stastny, the super-soph who now has 29 points through 24 games after two assists on Friday.
San Jose, as a team, has been pretty top-heavy in terms of fantasy worth. In goal you've had ironman Evgeni Nabokov, who got win No. 12 in spite of only having to stop 18 shots. On the offensive side, Joe Thornton has been effective as a No. 1 center and he got two more goals on Friday night. Aside from those two, it's been somewhat of a lackluster year for the rest of the roster. Devin Setoguchi had a nice streak after his call-up, but he's now stuck at seven goals after another goose-egg against the Avalanche. Patrick Marleau has been worth a point-per-game during the past two seasons, so his slow start has been quite disappointing too, however I'd stick him in the buy-low category right now, because he has to get going at some point.
Brad Boyes has been a feel-good comeback story this season, and he grabbed goal No. 15 Friday night in a loss to Minnesota, 3-2. The Wild got a great effort from Niklas Backstrom, who stopped 22 of 24 shots for the win, and some trickery from Marian Gaborik, who scored the game-winner in overtime after a move that's more prevalent in backyard rinks. St. Louis forward Lee Stempniak had the puck in the Minnesota zone when he heard someone call for a drop pass. That someone was Gaborik, who had a clear path to the net at the other end of the ice, took it the distance and beat Manny Legace for the goal. In case you'd forgotten, Gaborik likes to score goals. He now has five in the five games since returning from a groin injury, and 20 points in 20 games played for the entire season.
Tim Kavanagh is a fantasy hockey analyst for ESPN.com
